Tron: Adagio

By: Shadow Chaser

Author's Notes:

This story covers the entire comic, Tron: Betrayal, and flashbacks from Tron: Legacy itself. The scenarios of the game Evolution are not mentioned in here as I did not play the game. All characters are not mine, they belong to Disney.

Musical Cue Note:

If you have been playing the soundtrack to reading this fanfic, do not play the "Tron: Legacy (End Titles)" track with this chapter (the mood of the chapter will be ruined). The only thing that matches is the title. I highly recommend either playing "Father and Son" from itunes download or "Adagio for Tron" for this chapter.

Story:

Tron: Legacy

Tron slammed into the murky Sea of Simulation with code-jarring force, unable to move from the paralytic kick that Clu had delivered to his chest before snatching away his spare baton to create another lightjet. He had passed out after derezzing both of their jets, but had woken up mid-air and immediately set to make amends. He had to find forgiveness from Flynn after what he had done for so long as Rinzler. But Clu had stopped that; Clu had ultimately won, again, and left him for dead.

As he felt himself sinking deeper into the murky waters, he wondered should he even consider asking forgiveness or would Flynn even accept it? He mentally shook his head, such despairing thoughts were not him, he could not let Clu win like this! Tron closed his eyes behind the black helmet he had lived in for so long and set out purging the rest of his systems from the remnants that was Clu's Rinzler within him.

Only then, perhaps he could combat the paralytic that enveloped him and hopefully swim his way out of the Sea of Simulation. There was no risk of drowning as the armor and helmet did its work in keeping him from being derezzed, but Tron couldn't help but feel the murky and still poisoned Sea trying to latch onto him, as if somehow trying to grasp that he was alive and a pure source.

He fought it off as he felt his processes slowly return to normal. Flynn was right, what had he become since Clu had rectified him into Rinzler? He had…he had become...

The Iso towers, the Iso city, everything about it was what Clu hated. Rinzler knew that to please his master, he would have to destroy the threat it represented to The Grid, yet he found himself hesitating, staring up at the spires a sense of foreboding wrong that spread through his very being. Perhaps the Isos were that source of wrong; perhaps they were the source of the error messages that occasionally flashed before his eyes when he was idle.

"Sir, tower secure, we have their leader on the top floor. She has not resisted arrest, but wishes to speak to whoever was in charge before we executed her," one of the Black Guards spoke up and Rinzler nodded once before heading into the tower.

He unhooked his disc, but did not split them, staring up at the lattice of semi-thick beams that crisscrossed the whole building. Power conduits, a design that was not needed in his master's perfect Grid. It would soon be dealt with. Taking the elevator up he exited at the top floor and signaled to the Black Guards on duty to stand down as he passed by. Jarvis, a sniveling program that Clu had sent to observe him shuffled up next to him.

Even if this…Iso, this disease, was a threat, he would be able to neutralize her just as easily. Clu had told him that he was the best combat program ever written and gave him access to numerous abilities, though his master and creator had cautioned that some of his abilities may be too advance for him to properly handle and would produce error messages. He did not like that.

He exited the elevator and saw that she was standing by the windows, looking out into the glittering city that was marred by smoke and by half derezzed buildings, her back facing him. "As the leader of the Isos and this rebellion, you are afforded the courtesy," Jarvis barely kept his contempt down, "of last requests. Speak them."

"I wish to see the face of my executor," she did not turn away from the window.

"Your executor is here," Jarvis replied.

She turned away from the window and her breath caught in her throat as a delicate hand reached up to cover her mouth in shock. She stared at him with wide, almost frightened eyes. "Y-You…" she stuttered, her composure fading fast, "but no…no, it cannot be. How…?"

"Ah, so the rumors were true," Jarvis took a step forward before his image shifted and wavered, breaking down and revealing that it was not Jarvis who was waiting, but rather Clu himself. Somehow, Rinzler was not surprised, expecting this out of his master. "There was something going on between the two of you."

"You cannot be serious," she looked at him, her eyes wide with horror, "what did you do?"

Clu stepped around her, a malicious gleam in his eyes before putting a hand on Rinzler's shoulder, "Ophelia, meet Rinzler. Rinzler, this is Ophelia, the leader of the Isos."

"Shall I execute her now, master?" Rinzler did not understand what was going on, a sense of terrible oddity pulling at him. Better to execute the program now then let the feeling grow, he supposed. Yet…

"No," Ophelia shook her head, her expression broken as she stared at him. He wondered why she was looking at him in such a way that made him want to do nothing more than to drop the disc he was holding and hold her tight. He was her executor, not a comforting program! "Creator no…"

Beside him, Clu lifted his hand up and gestured towards Ophelia. "You know something? You were quite difficult to find," he smiled, "but after I…well, created Rinzler here, it was easy. Turns out your lover, such an odd User word, had all of the information I needed to find and triangulate the masking subroutine he obviously made for you. Too easy after that."

"How could you?" her eyes suddenly blazed with fury, "that was his own-"

"He, is loyal to me now! He is my soldier and my right hand! He," Clu barely restrained himself, "knows where his loyalties lie!"

Ophelia drew herself up and stared haughtily at Clu, "At least he will never become you. You are a monster."

"A monster?" Clu looked sarcastically appalled, "no. Not a monster, dear Ophelia. I am what the Creator should have been, a benevolent dictator." He abruptly turned on his heel and waved to Rinzler. "You may kill her now."

"Understood," Rinzler replied before stepping forward activating his disc with a buzzing hiss. There was no need to split the disc so he approached her, a part of him marveling at how calm and composed she looked as she met his gaze behind the black helmet he wore.

"I know you're in there somewhere," she gave him a sad, yet surprisingly hopeful smile as he raised his disc. She was magnificently fearless, a part of him processed, before he wondered where the process came from. "And I want you to know that I forgive you, Tron."

He froze at the name.

Hundreds of error messages pinged throughout his system as he kept staring at her, unable to move. Something was preventing him from taking any action, yet he could not find the source of it. His processes were screaming at him to strike the killing blow, yet he found that he did not want to. A quick glance up towards where his hand was raised spiked concerns within him. His hand was shaking, badly.

"Rinzler!" Clu took a half-step forward, "what are you waiting for?"

"I…" all of a sudden he found it hard to talk. Something within him was fighting, yet he did not know why. It had to be that name that she had spoken. It had to have done something within him? Perhaps it was an override command? Who was this Tron? Who-

He lowered his disc, frantically querying all of his functions. Why? Why was this happening to him? Why did she hold the power to stop him with that name? He barely heard the Clu's own disc activating before he clenched his teeth together and looked back up at Ophelia, a pained expression on his face, even though he knew she could not see it behind the helmet he wore.

She was the cause of it. She was hurting him. And the only way he knew how to get rid of the pain was to derezz the source of it.

An electronic howl emerged from his lips as he suddenly struck her, burying his disc deep into her chest, breaking through the shielding she had, the lines of code, everything-

[I forgive you…]

His breath hitched in his throat as he abruptly stepped back, his disc still embedded in her as little bits of liquid data trickled from her lips and from her fatal wound. The smile she wore was beatific before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the ground, collapsing into little pieces of inactive data.

Rinzler found himself staring at the pile, the error messages slowly disappearing within him. She had been the source of the pain and the error messages. But what was this sudden hollow feeling he had? What was this feeling that he should have remembered her as she was, not what she could have been?

"Good job Rinzler," Clu stepped forward and he looked at his master with a sideways glance before staring down at the active disc in his hand. "However, I think we need to resolve some of the bugs in your system."

"I do not understand," he had done as requested so what was his master talking about?

"Just a little maintenance. I still see that some of my codes aren't quite perfect. Don't worry," Clu gave him a quick smile before picking up what was left of Ophelia's own disc and stared at it curiously before picking up his fallen one, "we'll have you better in no time."

"Sir," Rinzler nodded. Perhaps it was for the better he let his master rework his code. He did not like the error messages.

"Who knows, maybe you'll have a lot of fun in the Games too," Clu pulled him around, handing him his own disc back while keeping Ophelia's. Together they headed back towards the elevator, the Black Guards following them.

Tron stiffened as he felt that part of Clu's code purging from his system, bracing himself against the sharp shooting pain that started from his disc and spread through his system. The rogue program had re-rectified him again after that incident, turning him into a mostly silent warrior who only either communicated by wireless or barely spoke. The feedback to his filters had also grown and Clu had rectified him into a program who thought everything was a game and needed to come out as the winner.

But Ophelia…proud, beautiful, Ophelia. He had derezzed her with his own hands and in the moment of her death, she had forgiven him for his actions. She stood there, accepting her fate while he could not prevent his own. Clu had made him derezz her knowing that it would cause him the greatest anguish should he regain his former self. He had done so many things as Rinzler, so many horrific and terrible things in all those time as Clu's brainwashed lackey. But Ophelia…Ophelia's death was the worst.

He had caused her death. Everything he knew, everything he had on his disc, Clu had stolen from him; the knowledge of where the portal was; the knowledge of the solar sailers, the masking subroutines for the Isos, even the Isos' shielding. Clu had taken his knowledge, his skills and turned it into a weapon of his own.

He was as guilty as Clu for bringing down The Grid itself.

As Tron felt the remnants of Clu's programming disappearing from him, he looked up at where the surface of the Sea would have been, feeling himself sinking deeper and deeper. A part of him wanted to swim to the surface, but another part of him wondered if he should open his helmet and allow himself to drown in the Sea, forever derezzed.

Ophelia was incorrect in saying that Clu was a monster. Clu was only capable of rectifying programs. It was himself that was the monster; he as Rinzler and as Tron. He could have stopped Clu before all of this had happened, yet he hesitated; too focused on finding evidence for Flynn, too focused on the fact that Clu was in a way, Flynn's son. Too focused on the good that he hoped was within Clu. The unlocking of his own restrictions and code came too late when he had fought Clu. If he had done it earlier… His actions, or lack thereof, had created this nightmarish hell for every single program in The Grid.

Yet…

"I know you have the gift to make things right, Tron. You were created in my image and I am very good at what I do. You have the resources around you to maintain the peace and stability of this new system that you are in," Alan-One suddenly looked thoughtful and serious, "don't ever give up. The first thing I was taught was never to start a fight, but always finish it. Do what you feel is right and know that I will always approve of it. Know that Flynn will always have your back and know that you are doing the right thing."

Tron patted the area where he had originally kept the diskette Flynn had given to him from his User, Alan-One. It was still there! All of the cycles as Rinzler and it was still there! He bit his lip, looking around at the murky Sea of Simulation. Ophelia would have wanted him to go on. Shaddox and Cesta would have wanted him to rebuild. Flynn would be back and he would want to see this place rebuilt.

Tron made his decision and kicked his legs. He would help rebuild his home, his paradise. It would be a place of peace once more and this time, he would not fail.

Author's Notes:

As of this posting, I'm considering a small side project to Tron: Adagio, probably to be named Tron: Redemption. It will probably take place post-Legacy, but have a ton of flashbacks to the years when Tron was Rinzler and all of the atrocities he committed as Clu's right hand program. Don't know if I will be writing it, seeing that I accomplished my goal of writing in the Tron universe with Betrayal as my starting point and I have said that I was not interested in writing anything post-Legacy. We'll see…

Anyways, there were a ton of flashback things I could have picked out for Tron to experience and it could have been more than one as he relives his memories, but I figured the one with Ophelia's fate in it would be more poignant and hit you, lovely readers, very hard. Have I done my job? ^_^ Here's a box of tissues.